Southern Vegetable Pie

Amarante

Tue, Nov 03 2020, 4:14 pm

This was delicious and easy to prepare since you can prep even the night before if necessary or saute the vegetables when you have time.

Not a light dish but it was a crowd pleaser. I just served with some bagged green salad because you don't need anything heavy.

Per notes you can serve at room temperature so theoretically could cook ahead. I served when it was still moderately warm so the cheese was still melty. Smile

ETA - I let this sit for awhile before placing in the oven so that the liquid had a chance to absorb into the bread cubes.

Southern Vegetable Pie

Excerpt From: Johnnie Gabriel - Second Helpings

Serves 8 to 10.

3 tablespoons extra-virgin oil
1½ cups sliced leeks
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium yellow squash, sliced ¼- inch thick
3 medium zucchini, sliced ¼-inch thick
1 each red, yellow, and green bell pepper, seeded and sliced into ¼-inch-wide strips
8 ounces baby bella mushrooms
3 cups baby spinach
6 large eggs
¼ cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon chopped basil
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
2 cups ½-inch cubes stale French bread
8 ounces cream cheese, diced
10 ounces Manchego, Swiss, or Gouda cheese, shredded (2 cups)

Heavy duty aluminum foil
Nonstick cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet add the olive oil and sauté the leeks and garlic over medium heat, until the leeks are soft. Add yellow squash, zucchini, bell peppers, and mushrooms and sauté until crisp-tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and fold in the baby spinach. The spinach will wilt with residual heat. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Line a 10-inch springform pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray. Press the foil flat and smooth against the sides of the pan.

In a large bowl whisk the eggs and cream together and season with salt, pepper, and basil. Stir in the bread cubes and cheeses. Combine the egg mixture with the sautéed vegetables and stir until well combined. Pour into the greased 10-inch springform pan and pack the mixture tightly.

Place the springform pan on a baking sheet. Bake the pie for 1 hour, until it becomes puffed and golden brown and is firm to the touch. If the top browns too quickly, cover with aluminum foil. Serve hot, cold, or at room temperature.

Last edited by Amarante on Tue, Nov 03 2020, 4:40 pm; edited 1 time in total

Amarante

Tue, Nov 03 2020, 4:38 pm

Lets_Eat_Pie wrote:

This sounds delicious! Is it basically a quiche?

No it's more like a savory bread pudding because the cubes of bread are dispersed and when you let it set the absorb the liquid and then puff out.

There is an old dish I used to make called "Mock Souffle" which is similar to those but just with cheese.

I should add in the recipe that I recommend letting it sit for awhile before putting the oven so that the bread cubes have the chance to absorb the liquid so they become more delicious when cooked.

Amarante

Tue, Nov 03 2020, 4:49 pm

animeme wrote:

Sounds good! With that many veggies to cut and cook, about how long would you say it took for total prep, not including the final bake time?

How efficient are you at prepping veggies? That is probably the most time consuming part.

ETA - I bought a really good quality Santoku knife and it really made prepping veggies much easier and faster. I find it much easier to use than a Chef's knife for veggies. I think mine was a Wusthof but there are other good brands. Keeping your knife sharp also speeds up prep and is also safer than a dull knife. A dull knife is actually more dangerous than a sharp one.

But I will often break a recipe into components when possible because I get lazy by late afternoon and so I don't like to prep at that point.

So for this recipe, I would cut up the vegetables whenever it was convenient and then put in the refrigerator. Or you could actually saute the vegetables ahead of time and then assemble. You need to add the veggies at room temperature so it only makes sense to cook them when you have time. You could do it the day before if you wanted and just take out of the refrigerator when ready to assemble.

And as I wrote, assembling ahead of time actually makes the results better.

Washing veggies when you have time is a huge time saver as well.

Factor in that if you serve this dish you don't need to prep and cook a separate veggie or carb dish as this is protein, carb AND a lot of veggies all in one. There is also one pot - or more accurately springform pan - to clean at the end. LOL

So how long would it take for you to prep these veggies.

1½ cups sliced leeks - if washed - maybe three minutes in total to slice
3 cloves garlic, minced - I use a garlic press so maybe 30 seconds
3 medium yellow squash, sliced ¼- inch thick - 3 minutes - slicing yellow squash is fast with a good knife
3 medium zucchini, sliced ¼-inch thick - maybe 3 minutes as slicing zucchini is easy and fast
1 each red, yellow, and green bell pepper, seeded and sliced into ¼-inch-wide strips - maybe five minutes in total because you have to clean out the seeds and pith from the interior
8 ounces baby bella mushrooms - if you want to cut back on time get them sliced already
3 cups baby spinach - prewash but frankly you can use frozen spinach. Just thaw and squeeze out ALL the excess water

Amarante

Wed, Nov 04 2020, 10:13 am

happinessseeker wrote:

Haha oh well. #lowcarblife

Okay - you have a specific dietary reason for not including the bread.

As I posted, this recipe is very specifically a bread pudding but I have some some recipes for what are called Crustless Quiches which omit the carbs but have the filling since typically those who are on a low or no carb diet don't have issues with fat so cheese and cream is fine.

You could try googling for crustless vegetable quiche and see what comes up and I would suspect there would be some good variant that binds the dish without bread. Aren't there also low or no-carb alternatives now?